Naming children after saints

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murf
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

Naming children after saints

Post by murf » Wed Jul 27, 2016 3:56 am

When going through the Kilchreest baptism register I came across three Martins baptised on 11 November 1866. I had seen such groupings with more common names but thought nothing of it. But three Martins on the same day seemed a bit unusual, so the thought occurred to me that perhaps Nov 11 was the feast day of St Martin. Sure enough it is, and the following comes from Wikipedia:
Saint Martin's Day, also known as the Feast of Saint Martin, Martinstag or Martinmas, the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours or Martin le Miséricordieux, is celebrated on November 11 each year. This is the time when autumn wheat seeding was completed, and the annual slaughter of fattened cattle produced "Martinmas beef".

How widespread was this practice in 19th Century Ireland? Did parents feel obliged to name their child after a saint if their baptism coincided with that saint's feast day?(providing of course the gender was right).

murf
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

Re: Naming children after saints

Post by murf » Thu Jul 28, 2016 4:21 am

:oops: Well I've managed to embarrass myself here, for of course I should have remembered St Martin's Well, in Ballynacally which has always had great significance for the local folk. St Martin's Well has its own dedicated page in the Clare Library's Archaeology section http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... 039---.htm
So after reappraising the history of St Martin's Well it seems hardly surprising that Martin was a popular name choice for boys born in November in this parish.

Sduddy
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Re: Naming children after saints

Post by Sduddy » Mon Dec 26, 2016 11:04 am

Today is St. Stephen’s Day and it will come as no great surprise to find that many boys born around this time were called Stephen.

I looked at the parish of Drumclift and found that between 1841 and 1863 (inc.) 26 boys were named Stephen, 13 of whom were born between Dec. 22nd and Jan. 2nd. Nevertheless most of the boys born between those dates were given the usual traditional names. The number of these boys was 70.

I decided that the parish of Drumclift was not very representative of parishes throughout the county, as it takes in the town of Ennis, so I looked at the parish of Rath and Kilnaboy for the same period. Of all the boys baptised between 1841 and 1863, only two were called Stephen, and both were baptised at the end of December, one in 1845: Stephen [of] Patrick McMahon and Catherine Smith; sps: Dominus [Mr.] Keating and Bridget Canny, and one in 1857: Stephen [of] Florence McCarthy and Maria Hogan; sps: John Hogan and Bridget Hendrick.

These results from Drumclift and Rath-Kilnaboy show that St. Stephen made a small dent on traditional family naming patterns.

Then I looked at the later period of 1864 – 1916 (inc.). This time I took births registered in the Union of Ennis, which takes in a much greater area than the parish of Drumclift, and births in the Union of Corofin, which takes in a much greater area than the parish of Rath-Kilnaboy. In Ennis Union, during that period, 151 boys were named Stephen, 49 of whom were born between 22nd Dec. and 2nd Jan.. In Corofin Union, 12 boys were named Stephen, 8 of whom were born between 22nd Dec. and 2nd Jan..

At first glance it looks as if the name had gained in popularity, but this period (44 years) is twice as long as earlier period (22 years) and the areas are much wider.

This time I did not try to find out how many boys born between Dec. 22nd and 2nd Jan. were given other names, so I cannot say if there was any more of a dent made on traditional naming.

Tomorrow is the feast of John the Apostle, better known as the Beloved Disciple and, according to tradition, the author of the Gospel according to John i.e. John the Evangelist. He is probably a more important saint than Stephen, but I think that he was eclipsed by John the Baptist, who got mid-Summer for his feastday: a two-day event, St. John’s Eve and St. John’s Day. The Gospel according to Luke says that John was born 6 months before Jesus, so once mid-Winter was decided for the birth of Jesus it followed that John’s fell on mid-Summer. It’s John’s birth that is celebrated and he is alone among the saints in this - his death, marked on the 29th August, goes unnoticed.

If it weren’t for this eclipse, we might have fewer Stephens and even more Johns.

Sheila

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